Description: Homebase is the coming of age story of Rainsford Chan in 1950s and 60s California. Rainsford is a fourth-generation Chinese American named after the town where his great grandfather worked during the gold rush. Orphaned at fifteen, he attempts to claim America as his homebase, and his personal history is interwoven with dreams, stories, and letters of his family's life in America. Moving through time and place, the story allows the reader to discover the past as Rainsford does, to see the world through his eyes, and to learn the truth about the Chinese American experience.hawn Wong is the author of the novel American Knees and director of the Honors Program at the University of Washington.
Brief description: Shawn Wong is the author of the novels Homebase (Reed, Cannon & Johnson Publishing, 1979) and American Knees (Simon & Schuster, 1996). He is Professor of English and Byron and Alice Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.
Review Quotes:
"Evocative, sensuous."
-- "San Francisco Chronicle"